So its been almost a month and a week since I came here. Here is my update:
School
So, my host father took me to go see the Projektor (vice principal) for us to set up my schedule. He put me in the 4th grade because most of the people in there are the same age. We chose my main focus subject to be music (of course ;)) and, in the 4th grade, you get another elective on the side. My top three choices were Philosophy, Psychology, and Religion science. We ended up ptting me in Religion because I already have a philosophy class, and the religion class only has 7 people in it so it would be easier to ask questions and participate and such. So my two 'electives' are music and religion, and all the other subjects are mandatory. I am taking sport (PE), german, chemistry, math, elglish, philosophy, history, and phsysics. (I would have a french class, but the class is so far ahead, I wouldnt be able to understand or learn anything.)
A little bit about each class:
- In sport class, we're currently doing running and learning to pace ourselves. The teacher speaks Wallis german (dialect) so I can't understand him most of the time, but he clarifies if I ask.
- In German, we're currently reading Das Erlkönig Manöver. It a historical fiction book and we're split up into groups and are going to do presentations on the different characters.
- Chemistry, I am doing surprisingly well at understanding what we're doing. Again, if I ask for clarification, then I get it. Although I can't help wondering how hard this class would be for an exchange student who didn't know the basics of chemistry. I'm lucky I've taken some classes before.
- Math was the first subject I felt like I really understood. This is because the teacher writes everything we're doing on the board and I don't have to just rely on my understanding what he's saying.
- The english teacher is our 'main' teacher, so everybody knows him well. He's asked me to do some persentations in calss eventually and asks me for advice and such. That is a fun class.
- I am soo excited to be actually taking a philosophy class. Unfortunatly, its one of my harder classes as far as understanding goes, but I'm getting better.
- History, we're learning about colonialim and the election that's coming up. My understanding in that class has actually been going down. I don't quite understand how that's possible, but maybe it just needs a bit of work.
- And physics. At first I couldn't understand anything. But I'm actually getting the hang of it. The fact that this is phyiscs 2, and I haven't ever taken a physics calss makes it especially difficult, but with every new topic, we start at the beginning; with basic principles and examples. So its coming along
- French, I actually go to sometimes. I'm interested in learnign the language and I'm hoping I can pick up a few things from sitting in the class.
- Religion is a fun calss. We have only 7 people in it, so it's almost easier to ask questions and such. I am able to understand pretty much all of what is talked about, so that's good. We've been learning about Pilgrimiges and defining religion.
- Music, we have three teachers. One does voice, one does jazz, and the other does history/the more technical part. Like, right now we're learning about modes and old songs the munks sang with old notation. In jazz, we're doing mostly improv and talking about chord structor. In voice, we're learning to sing different styles of song.
The school structure is set up so that there's a group of people who have been together since the 1st year that make up a calss. This class moves from subject to subject together so we all have the same subjects at the same time. A class is made up of people taking the same SFs (schwerpunktfach: main elective) For example, my class is made up of people taking music as an SF and people taking Italien. So, when it comes time for our respective SFs, we split up. My class is about 35% music and 65% italian. The people in my class are easy to get along with and help me when I need it. So I'm glad I'm where I'm at.
With the secondary elective, it can be whatever a person wants, so its not necessarly with the people from your class. Some people from my class are taking the same secondary elective as each other, but I'm not.
Our schedule is different for every day. We have different subjects and at different times. On Monday, we have a 2 period lunch (so I go home to eat); tuesday, we get out a persiod earlier; Wednesday, a long lunch again; Thursday, no afternoon classes; And friday we get to sleep a little. Some subjects we have 3 times a week, and some we have 2. (But we have our SF, almost every day.)
My school campus is made up of building A; building B; the gym, the ''stable'' (where music class is) (used to be used as a stable when people used horses to get around); the building where the cafateria is and rooms for the people who live there; and a church. There's a chance I forgot some, but those are the ones I've been to. Building B is where most of my classes are, but I have a couple in building A.
the whole campus is on an up hill, so if you start at the bottom of the hill where the church is and keep walking straight to the third floor of building B, you come out to the top of the hill. (It's really kool to get to the third floor and still be at ground level :))
All in all, school is coming along very well. Some of the things that are tought I already know and some things I'm behind on. Luckily, I don't have to worry about getting good grades; especially at the beginning. So, right now, my goal is to understand the lessons. Which is what one does anyway in school, right? ;)
What I've been up to
- Week (and Weekend): Since I didn't have to take the German course, I could begin school when it actually started, and not a month later like I would have to if I did take the course. School started on Thursday for everybody. Also the first week, I had the opportunity to go to one of the biggest festivals here: Gampel Open Air. Rotary paid for my ticket for all four days (which was a LOT of money. Thank you Rotary!), and they also paid for my host sister's ticket so she could go with me. It was a festival where a bunch of different bands (most world famous) came and played. There was food and drinks, a couple rides, some dance areas with DJ's, and a LOT of tents set up outside the whole place. It was fun. Sunday, I had a welcome rotary meeting in Olten. There, we talked about rules and such and we got to do skits about them. It was cute.
- Weekend: This weekend was a lot about hinking for me :) I took a little hike on my own on Saturday trying to get up the mountian/hill right next to our house. (I live in a valley) And on Sunday, my host mother took me to a place she often walks with her friend. This is a beautiful trail that follows a river (that is the dividing line between the two cities, Brig and Glis), past a small waterfall, and then climbs up the mountian/hill. At the top, there's a little Kapella (which is almost like a mini clatholic church for parying and things.) Then, we took streets back down to our house. I have visited the beginning of the trail with the waterfall a lot after school. Its beautiful.
- and 4. Weekends: These weekends we spent doing the same things. On Saturday, we would be in Fribourg moving in my host sister to her new apartment where she's going to live for school. That was fun to find things we needed at IKEA and then go back to her apartment and try and build them. On Sunday, we went up to Albinin, a village that my host mother's family lives in. The first weekend was a party for my host sister's cousin who was going to Austrailia as an exchange student. So we had dinner with the whole family; like a family reunion :) The second weekend, there was a festival celebrating the band getting new uniforms (pics are up on facebook!) It was really nice to spend some time with her parents in their old style house that overlooks Wallis.
- Weekend: The weather finally started getting (and staying) colder like fall. Up until then, it had mostly been extremely hot. People kept telling me that I had brought the summer weather with me. (yay..... since I love hot weather so much.... ;p haha) Friday, my class went on a hike that all the calsses do this time of year called Herbstwandern. We went up to a house that belongs to one of the girls in my class's grandparents. I think I need to get better at Swiss hiking; my legs aren't liking the steep hills. But I'll make sure they get used to it ;) It was very beautiful and peaceful up at the top. I hope to be doing a lot more hiking. And when there's snow, skiing. (Of course :)) Saturday, I went to a Rotary follow up meeting in Fribourg (my third concecutive weekend up there. Haha) After the meeting, all of us exchange students hung out in Fribourg and Bern. It was fun and felt kinda different to be speaking english so much. (Most of the people are from USA of Canada.)
I have also been going to some meetings for my local Rotary club with my host father. The first two I went to were special summer meetings so we got to go to the movies for one and hear a talk about 3D, and the local radio station (http://www.rro.ch/cms/) for the other. Even though I couldn't understand what they were saying becuase it was all in Wallis german, I found them interesting.
The other meeting I went to was held at a very fancy restaurant. I talked with some rotarians who I have never met before and we had a good time sharing stories and cultures.
Also, I have joined two bands. One is through my school and has a mixture of students and staff playing in it. I got a very nice piccolo from the director and am playing it most of the time.
The other is called Glishorn and is for the town of Glis. Its apparently one of the best in the area :) Food
Here, I have been eating a lot more bread and cheese than I think I have ever eaten. The bread is always fresh and the cheese is real cheese. (No fake cheese like there is often in America :)) Cheese and bread is the main menu for breakfast and dinner at my house. And for lunch, we have a big cooked meal. I have also been eating more apples since there's a couple little apple trees in the garden. And then theres coffee :) I've been drinking more than I'm used to, but here, the cups of coffee are very very small compared to American. Especailly the little ''expresso'' cups. Thats something that I can actually finish :) (Those who know me know I rarely finish my drinks.)
Another difference between American food and Swiss, is that quatlity is more important than quantity here. Here's an example that my host father and I were talking about: We were at IKEA and we had the option to quick grab a cheap lunch downstairs, or go upstairs to the IKEA restaurant and get a good (but more expensive) lunch. In America, this more expensive lunch would be a little better quality with a lot more quantity. But here, it was a little more quantity with a lot more quality. I love finding differences like these and analyzing them :)
Language
The people living in the German speaking part of Wallis (this Canton) speak Wallis german like I was talking about my Sport teacher talking earlier. (The rest of Wallis speaks french) High german is a lot harder to speak and its almost a foreign language for some people, so everyone for the most part speaks dialect with everybody else. At first I was completely lost when people were having a conversation around me, but I'm getting better at understanding Walliserdeutsch (Wallis german). Now, sometimes, I can take part in a conversation when I understand a little of what they're saying. Rotary says that it takes 3 months to feel comfortable with a language. Since I already have high german down, I'm hoping I can understand all Walliserdeutsch by three months.
As far as high german goes, my main trouble with it right now is how words are ued to mean different things. Like for example, somone would say, ''Wo hast du Schule?'' which litteraly translates to ''Where do you have school?'' At first I wanted to answer this question with the name of my school. But what the question is really asking is ''Where is your class?'' So there are things like these that have been tripping me up that I just have to get used to.
Transportation/Geography
We are always making the joke that to me, 3 hours or travel is nothing (exp. to Chicago). But to them, that's all the way across the country. And it's true. For example, I already mentioned that all the inbound students traveled from Fribourg to Bern (two major cities in two different Cantons) like it was nothing. In America, you would have to plan a major trip travel to another state, then yet another, then back home again. But we all (inbound students) love traveling because we can do it for free. Rotary gave us all GA's which allow us free passage on any train, bus, or ship in Switzerland. It a VERY useful thing to have. (And VERY expensive. Again, thank you Rotary!)
Also, public transportataion is EVERYWHERE. I take the bus to school every morning and back and sometimes just take it anywhere for exploring purposes. And I'm planning on taking the train to Thun (a very beautiful city) or Bern or Fribourg some weekend I have free.
Well, that's all I can think of for now to write about. If any of you think of something you want to know about, post a question/topic and I'll put it in my next blog :)
Bis nächsten Mal
~Emmah
